Data Center 74 - Reliable Web Hosting

Businesses in the United States have endured quite an onslaught of disruptive events over the past 30 days that have resulted in loss of power and productivity for extended periods of time, as well as lasting damage to operations, relationships, and reputations.  Wise companies are beginning to understand how to leverage technologies such cloud computing, virtualization, managed services, and colocation services to better prepare against unforeseen events.

Perilous Times

Multiple sources estimate that over five million businesses and residents languished through a multi-state power outage over several days in early September affecting California, Arizona, and parts of Mexico.  Airports, nuclear reactors, and transit systems from Los Angeles to Tijuana were inoperable due to the event, and temperatures remained in triple digits into the evening hours.

In late August, states along the east coast of the United States experienced a 5.8 magnitude earthquake centered in the state of Virginia that sent shockwaves from Georgia to Canada.  One day later, many of the same residents prepared for a potential east coast landfall of Hurricane Irene.  During its sporatic path through the region, Irene made landfall in three separate states, causing significant damage in North Carolina, Virginia, and New York.  Irene’s conditions caused power issues for over 8 million people total, and the disruption in business operations was significant.  Major airports across the region either closed or cancelled flights.

In early September Tropical Storm Lee resulted in heavy rainfall and flooding for many Gulf Coast states, while the winds on its outer bands fueled existing wildfires in drought stricken Texas.  Currently over 34,000 acres of land in Texas have been ravished, leaving thousands of residents and business owners without a place to live or do business.  Damage estimates for Hurricane Irene alone is in the billions of dollars.  With the inclusion of the tornados that swept through Alabama earlier in the year, pundits estimate that this may be one of the most costly years on record for the insurance industry.

Weather Conditions Mimicking Market Conditions

The natural and man-made challenges facing businesses today seem to pale in comparison to the stormy market conditions faced by companies across the globe.  The volatile state of the economy has heightened the anxiety that many businesses are facing.  Consumer confidence was down in August, resulting in banks and investors holding tightly to their capital.

In the face of a down economy, companies have the difficult challenge of remaining both competitive and profitable.  As owners and managers work to balance the demands of retaining quality employees against ever-challenging budget restraints, many are looking into all areas of their operations for a respite from unnecessary spending.  For those unaware of the critical relationship between IT and business functions, technology cuts seem logical.  Cutting wastefulness without trimming effectiveness is a very ambitious initiative that is often met with staunch opposition.  With the recent disastrous events fresh in our memories (including 9/11), business leaders may be feeling a touch of mixed emotions.

Natural disasters often leave many companies with feelings of both inadequacy, and a zest to implement policies that increase their defenses against similar issues in the future.  In the past, business leaders faced outrageous financial hurdles as they worked to integrate the efficiencies that future technologies promised into their business model.  With the advent of new and battle tested technologies however, changes have been realized. Advances in information technology (IT) over the last few years have resulted in a paradigm shift, and the position of power now lies in the hands of the  business decision makers.

Doing More With Less

The vast landscape of available technologies, paired with a drastically lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), provide a near endless combination of solutions that can be tailored to align with the objectives of most any firm.  Now is the time to get it right, and the true workhorses of efficiency are found in the data center.

Data centers are secure facilities that companies often leverage to centralize their IT infrastructure.  Private data centers have pros and cons that differ from third party service providers.  The economies of scale that can be leveraged in an outsourced model can be highly cost-effective, greatly reducing the capital expenditure required for a privately built out data center.  Data centers are equipped with built-in redundancies to mitigate downtime resulting from single points of failure.  These facilities are capable of remaining operational during events that typically render a company incapable of operating due to power and/or network outages.  Data centers, whether private or public, are able leverage a myriad of cutting edge technologies that assist in achieving the goals of the organization.  Through the advent of virtualization and cloud computing variations, IT departments are now armed with tools that provide them with the ability to generate high productivity with low operational costs.

A Cloud is a Cloud is a Cloud

From private clouds to hybrid clouds to public clouds, there is no shortage of service providers promoting the benefits of cloud computing.  The lack of consistency in the various marketing messages can be confusing, but ultimately the concept of leveraging computing services in a manner that is similar to the style in which we consume electricity has enormous potential.  Virtualization software has done for the data center what flat panel monitors have done for the desktop.  In simple terms, virtualization is a space saving exercise in which data is migrated from many physical servers onto one physical server that consumes only a small portion of the space once consumed by the previous arrangement.  From a network administrators perspective though, virtualization is a quantum leap in efficiency.  The ability to run distinctly separate operating systems (Microsoft Windows and Linux Ubuntu for example) on the same physical host machine should itself be enough to make CEOs do cartwheels for the cost savings alone; however, IT administrators are using that as a mere starting block as they develop highly efficient, highly flexible virtual environments for a portion of the cost of past networking standards.  Virtualization, in short, is a “game changer.”

Many additional factors peripheral factors have contributed to the deep solution toolbox that today’s business leaders are able to utilize.  For example, connectivity costs from telecommunications firms are a fraction of what they were 5 years ago, allowing companies to either save money or increase their bandwidth without reducing costs.  Smartphones and tablets are providing connectivity to critical applications across the globe through simplistic interfaces, and companies of all sizes have embraced working remotely.

Leaders with the “early adopter” mindset will continue to maintain a finger on the pulse of market place, and sift through the hype to integrate what they envision will be impactful solutions that create value for their organizations.  Their appetite for risk and willingness to grapple with the unknown can result in thorough benefits for those organizations that keep a careful watch from a safe distance.

Through all of the headlines, let us not forget that the future of IT has always been glutted with farfetched possibilities and over expectations that either came to fruition or faded into folklore.  An article by Thomas McCarroll, former Associate Editor at TIME Magazine, dated August 12, 1991included these words: “The Information Age just hasn’t been able to meet overexpectations.  Some technologies have worked as promised; others haven’t.  For every success story like compact discs or Nintendo, there are fizzles like picture phones and home computers.”

Hindsight is always 20/20.